The present invention relates to a device for producing cold and/or heat by solid-gas reaction.
The device to which the invention refers is based on the use of the so-called "thermochemical pump" system, whose main characteristics are as follows:
- heat energy is employed for operating the system itself; electrical energy is optionally employed only for circulating the heat-transfer fluids,
- the "chemical engine" employed is a reversible reaction between a solid and a gas of the type: ##STR1##
The reaction is exothermic in direction 1, which means that, in this direction, it produces heat, and endothermic in direction 2, that is to say that, in this direction, it produces cold.
Such a system makes it possible to store energy in chemical form and has varied fields of application.
In addition, such a system makes it possible to produce, from a source of heat at the temperature Ts, heat at the temperature Tu such that: EQU Tu&lt;Ts
In this case, this system is called "chemical heat pump".
Such a system also makes it possible to produce, from a source of heat at the temperature T's, heat at the temperature T'u such that: EQU T'u&gt;T's
In this case, the system is called "chemical thermoconverter".
By virtue of this system it is possible to produce refrigeration energy from a source of heat and simultaneously to produce, from a source of heat at the temperature T"s, heat at the temperature T"u (T"u&lt;T"s) and refrigeration energy.
Depending on circumstances, the use of the heat or of the cold produced is simultaneous with the consumption of energy at high temperature (Ts, T's, T"s) or delayed in time (storage effect).
Document EP-A-0,382,586 discloses a device for the production of cold and/or heat by solid-gas reaction, comprising two reactors, each containing a salt capable of reacting chemically with a gas, a condenser and an evaporator for the gas. The components of the device are arranged so as to allow the gas to follow a path from one reactor to the other, passing through the condenser and the evaporator. At the end of the chemical reaction the reactor which is depleted in gas is at a higher temperature than that of the reactor containing the gas which has just reacted with the salt, the two reactors being at different pressure levels. Heat is conveyed by a heat transfer system from the reactor which is at the higher temperature to the reactor which is at the lower temperature in order to increase the temperature of the latter. The chemical reaction then takes place in the reverse direction, part of the heat of one reactor being used as a source of heat for desorption of the gas from the other reactor. This heat transfer between the two reactors is used to improve the efficiency of the system.
However, this improved efficiency of the system does not completely satisfy the commercial requirements demanded in the case of such a system.